Rafael Nadal will return to tennis in a few days, and if he wins his match, he'll improve his standing on the history tables.
After being absent from tennis for a year, Nadal is set to make his comeback at the Brisbane International event. It begins in a few days, on December 31st, and it will be a hugely followed event because not only is Nadal coming back to tennis at the event, but Naomi Osaka is as well.
When it comes to Nadal, he'll have a chance to make history immediately upon his return. That doesn't happen often, but that's how things lined up for him. He's currently tied for 4th most match wins in the Open Era on the ATP Tour, and a win will secure that he's the sole owner of that spot.
Right now, Nadal has 1068 wins, the same number as Ivan Lendl, and the moment he wins another match, he'll overtake him. That could happen in his first match in 2024, or it could happen in his third. We'll see, but he'll make more tennis history whenever he wins his first match.
The Spaniard currently trails Jimmy Connors, who is number one with 1274 wins; Roger Federer, who has 1251; and Novak Djokovic, who has 1087. When he wins, he'll be the sole number 4 on the rankings and that's going to be a great milestone to have, with his sight potentially set on more.
He likely won't catch Federer or Djokovic, but he's been injured the most out of all of them, so that kind of makes sense. You can't win matches if you don't play them. It's not a record he cares too much, probably, as his sole focus will be on returning well and remaining healthy, but it will be good to have.
We'll see if he adds some other records upon his return.
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